Racial Controversy over THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG a Lot of Hulaballo Over Nothing

When Disney studios makes its return to the world of 2-D animation this December with its film The Princess and the Frog, it will feature its first African Princess. Tiana, an african woman who starts out as a maid in New Orleans before finding her happily ever after, would seem like a good step forward in bridging the racial gap among Disney Princesses. But some people just won't be satisfied.

First, there's the AOL article that rips Disney's decision to have a Caucasion-appearing prince (though he's technically he's from the Mid-East) angrily asking why, at a time when our President is black, an African is apparently not good enough to be royalty. Another article has an unnamed woman claiming that having a white prince makes that statement that "black love isn't good enough." Would an all-African cast have been nice? Of course. But look at the flipside: this is an interracial courtship and marriage that's going to be taking place on the hallowed screen of Disney. What could be more ethnically diverse? In my view, making a film with only black characters has the danger of reinforcing the idea that blacks and whites can't occupy the same space; it would say you either have one ethnicity or the other. And those complaning about the prince's "whiteness" have to realize they can't have their cake and eat it too: they're also complaining that the villain of the film is black, which demonizes black people. Which is it folks? Are you saying that it is impossible for Africans to be villains? Heaven forbid that the two women struggling in the fight for good vs evil both have the same skin color.

And then there's the complaint about having the heroine Tiana being a maid to a spoilt rich white family in New Orleans. Attackers say this reinforces the idea that blacks should be serving people. This is a film where Tiana is 99% likely to get her come-uppance over her employers and leave them groveling at her feet as she becomes a princess and they loose all rank on her. She will break free of her role underneath the white family and have a triumphant happily ever after. Isn't that an uplifting and rewarding message, that anybody can be a princess, that no one is destined to remain forever subserviant? And isn't showing the white family as stuckup and snobbish a way of showing the pitfalls of such a system?

In short, there are people out there clamoring for attention, making mountains out of molehills. The Princess and the Frog may not be a perfect solution for the world's problems, but its making good steps in the right direction, and I look forward to its release this December.